RIO DE JANEIRO, May 14. /TASS/. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil reached 188,974, increasing by 11,385 over the past day, according to official statistics published on Wednesday.

According to the country’s Ministry of Health, the number of deaths associated with coronavirus surged by 749 over the day to 13,149. Meanwhile, 78,424 patients recovered.

The first coronavirus case in Brazil was confirmed on February 26 in Sao Paulo. Earlier, the Ministry of Health predicted that the situation in the country would stabilize by July, a gradual slowdown in the dynamics of the incidence rate would begin in August, and a decline would occur in September.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.